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I rushed to her side, shaking my blonde mane vehemently.
“Gods, no!” I rasped intensely. “And we won’t be. Not if I have anything to say about it.”
My sister stared up at me with pale, haunted eyes.
“You need to go, Bee. Save yourself.”
I forced a grin. “Now that’s just the delirium talking,” I said softly, brushing the back of my hand over her forehead.
She was burning up again.
“It’s not,” Dahlia insisted. “He doesn’t need to take us both, Bee. You can get out of here.”
“I can get us both out of here,” I murmured, shushing her. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”
“Don’t let our promise to Mom stop you,” she blubbered, and I put my index finger to her lips.
“We will always stick together, Dahlia, and I’m not just talking out of my ass. I have a plan—a real plan—but you need to be patient, okay?”
She stared at me uncomprehendingly. “What plan? Dad sold us fair and square,” she muttered, shame coloring her face. “Jesse won’t stop looking for us, and we have no money to get far enough away.”
“That’s exactly what I’m working on,” I insisted. “Come on, Dahlia. Give me some credit.”
I sat back and adjusted the blankets around her chin, my heart thudding furiously.
“I’m going to call for the healers. Your fever is back.”
She groaned softly. “They’re useless,” she complained.
“They’ve kept you alive this long.”
“Luck has kept me alive this long.”
I couldn’t argue with that. I wasn’t sure how much faith I had in Jesse’s B-rated healers, either, but I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing.
“I’ll be back,” I promised her, rising from the bedside. Once again, her eyes had fluttered closed, and I silently cursed our father for having put her in this position. Puttingusin this position.
Dawn had broken over Forny, illuminating all the dingy, disgusting flaws of Jesse’s ill-kept compound.
On the hill sat Jesse’s home, a simplistic bungalow structure that spanned beyond the curve. All the windows were glass, not for beauty but to keep an eye on his conquests, living beyond in squalor.
The small commune that sprawled over the lawn consisted of a bunch of run-down trailer-like houses made from concrete, each one like the one I shared with my twin. None had indoor plumbing or a kitchen, our meals delivered to us by guards on metal plates. It was unpalatable, but we had no choice but to eat if we didn’t want to starve. They were connected like a hive with a center headquarters where the guards traveled through the halls to pop in and out at their leisure.
I had learned that Jesse selected one or two wives a night to sleep with him inside the comforts of his home, where they were fed and bathed properly, but that was only for his favorites while others were cast aside like a child’s least favorite toy, forgotten and left to collect dust on a shelf after he used them.
Several of his wives had woken, their bodies in various stages of undress as they padded from their respective trailers, none of them paying me much mind. I was just another in the collection, a long line of young, nubile women who they would never dare to know. Jesse discouraged close friendships.
I wonder why.
The guards retreated to their posts, and I eyed the house, knowing that I shouldn’t approach uninvited, but with Dahlia’s fever returning…
She’s right. The fae healers aren’t doing their job. I bet Atlas’ fae healers are much better.
The idea sprung seemingly from nowhere, but once it was in my head, I couldn’t get it out. If Atlas were offering me a job, maybe that job would come with access to healers. And my access to healers would surely include my family.
Abruptly, I spun around and headed toward the walls of the compound, careful to remain hidden as I moved.
I wasn’t going to beg Jesse for help, not when he took such perverse pleasure in me asking. I wouldn’t beseech him to save us, only to have him turn around and abuse us more.
